CBS
has renewed 18 of its current shows and ordered six new ones, which
means it's time to clear away the dead weight. The network has canceled a
quartet of shows including two new dramas and two aging dinosaurs.

CSI: NY was canceled after nine seasons, putting it one shy of fellow spin-off CSI: Miami. The end of the New York branch of the crime scene investigation series leaves the original CSI as the only member of the franchise left standing, heading into season 14.

In addition, freshman drama Vegas has been canceled. The period show starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis had strong ratings Tuesday nights, but was moved to Fridays in the spring where it's ratings dropped to under 7.5 million (which is still better than all five of the dramas NBC renewed for next season). It's a testament to CBS' strength as a network that it can cancel a freshman drama that premiered with nearly 15 million viewers.

The new show that replaced Vegas Tuesday nights, Golden Boy, has also been cancelled. The show has struggled in the ratings, pulling in numbers that are barely better than what Vegas does Friday nights despite having NCIS: Los Angeles as a lead-in.

The cancellations of Vegas and Golden Boy means CBS had a pretty bad year for new shows. Of the six that aired, Elementary is the only one to survive to second season. Partners, Made in Jersey, The Job and now Vegas and Golden Boy were all cancelled. But when a network has any many huge hits as CBS, it can afford to abandon an entire season's worth of new shows and hope for better next time.

Finally, the network's long-running sitcom Rules of Engagement is dead after seven seasons. The show always managed to escape cancellation by some miracle, being used to fill in the gaps whenever a new sitcom failed (like $#*! My Dads Says and Partners). Now, after 100 episodes, it's over.